Outside Looking In
by Goddess of Ivy
Summary: Piper is put into a coma by a demon and may never wake up.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Charmed. If I did, I'd be a lot richer. Please don't sue, because all you'd get would be my collection of old Baby-Sitter Club books, some arcade tokens and an old typewriter. This is a slightly revised version of the original first part I had on here because I realized that my stupidity allowed me to contradict myself. In layman's terms, I said that it took place before the girls knew about Leo but Prue told him that a demon hurt Piper. So now, the girls already know about Leo. Ok, now that that's out of the way, on with the fanfic.   
  
  
Outside, the sky was dark. Stars were placed in it, making it look like a piece of black velvet dotted with sparkling diamonds. But the quietness and tranquility of the place was decieving. Inside a small abandoned warehouse a battle raged. A battle between good and evil. Between a horrible demon and three young women. The Charmed Ones.  
*****  
The demon charged at them again. The three sisters dove out of the way.  
'We can't keep this up much longer!' Piper thought.  
Somewhere during the fight, the potion that was supposed to destroy the monster was misplaced. Piper noticed the jar on the other side of the room. She was about to freeze the demon and get it, when the monster slammed a crowbar against her head with all it's strength. The last thing Piper heard before slipping out of consciousness was someone calling her name.  
*****  
"Piper!" Phoebe screamed again while running to her fallen sister.  
Prue used her power to bring the potion to her and she threw it on the demon. The potion caused the demon to turn into a puddle of purple goo, which quickly evaporated. But Prue didn't see this. She was already with Piper and Phoebe. Blood was everywhere.   
"Leo!!!" Phoebe yelled. "Leo, get your whitelighter butt down here!"  
"Damn it, he must be out of reach or something." Prue said. So she did the only thing left.  
Prue called 911.  
*****  
Leo Wyatt arrived at the scene minutes after the ambulance had left. He saw Prue and rushed over.  
"What happened?" he asked, the fear evident on his face.  
"We were fighting that demon. Piper got hit with a crowbar. The ambulance just left. Phoebe went with them. Only one of us could go." Prue was trying to control her voice.  
"Let's go." Leo took Prue's hand and they orbed to the hospital.  
*****  
Phoebe paced the waiting room while Prue sat in a hospital chair, head in her hands so no one could see she was crying. Leo was next to her looking blankly at his hands. He wanted to heal Piper, but the Elders had already warned him against it. A doctor came out and they looked up anxiously.  
"Are you relatives of Piper Halliwell?" she asked.  
"Yes." Phoebe answered.  
"I'm sorry..." the doctor began. 


	2. Chapter One

  
"I'm sorry, it doesn't look good. Piper is in a coma. There is almost no chance she will wake up. It's a miracle she is even alive. You may go to see her in about a half an hour." the doctor left.  
A half an hour later, Prue entered the room Piper was in. An elderly doctor was in the chair by Piper's bed.  
"Dr. Franklin?" Prue asked.  
Dr. Alfred Franklin had been the sisters' doctor ever since they were little. He had delivered all three of them. Dr. Franklin turned.  
"Prue. What happened to her?"  
"She was hit with a crowbar. We tried to stop the bleeding, but we couldn't." Prue took a deep breath to try to calm herself down.  
"I've watched to many of your family members die because of something like this." the old doctor looked up. "Is Phoebe alright?"  
"I... I'm fine." Phoebe said walking into the room. She looked at Piper, who had all sorts of IVs connected to her, and started to sob.  
*****  
Piper woke up to a white ceiling.  
'What? Where am I?' she wondered. She looked around. She was in a hospital! She got up and walked around the room. Piper turned around and saw her sisters sitting next to the hospital bed.  
"I hate seeing Piper like this. Do you think she will ever wake up?" Phoebe's gaze never left the hospital bed.  
"I am up!!!" Piper exclaimed. She walked over to her sisters. Then she noticed that she wasn't up. Or at least someone who looked like her wasn't. Piper's eyes widened.  
'Am I dead?'  
"You are not dead, Piper." a familiar voice said.  
"Andy! But, if you're here, I must be dead."  
"You're just in a coma. Only problem is, you may never wake up."  
"Oh, that's bad." Piper was about ready to panic.  
*****  
Phoebe was very deep in thought. She was so frightend.What if Piper never woke up? What would happen then? And what if did wake up and didn't remember anything? Anything at all. She couldn't imagine a world without either of her big sisters and now, here she was, facing the possibility that she would have to live in that world. Phoebe took a deep breath, trying to control the tears springing to her eyes. She shut her them tightly.  
'If only Piper was here reassuring us it was ok.' she thought. Then she heard a familiar voice say "I have to wake up! I can't stay like this forever!"  
Phoebe was afraid to open her eyes. Afraid that the person who that voice belonged to wouldn't be there, awake and talking. She hesitantly opened her eyes. There was Piper, standing on one side of the room talking to something that Phoebe couldn't see.  
"Piper!" she shouted jumping up from her chair, making it fall backwards. She rushed towards her sister. Piper looked startled. Prue had looked up when Phoebe yelled. She looked very confused.  
"Phoebe you can see me?" Piper asked.  
"Of course I can see you! You're standing right there! Are you alright?"  
"Phoebe, who are you talking to?" Prue watched Phoebe.  
"I'm talking to Piper. Duh. You know our sister."  
"Pheebs, Piper is still over here. She hasn't moved."  
Phoebe looked over at the hospital bed and gasped. Prue was right. But here was Piper standing right in front of her.  
"What the...?!"  
"Um...Pheebs. I think I'm a ghost type thing right now." Piper said.  
"A ghost? Wait, does that mean your d..." Phoebe trailed off.  
"Not yet." Piper shook her head.  
Phoebe turned to Prue. "Piper is standing right here. I don't know why I can see her and you can't, but she is here."  
"I believe you, Pheebs." Prue told her. "I just wish I could see her."   
"Listen, Pheebs. Andy is here too. He's trying to explain to me what is happening." Piper said.  
"Andy? You mean Prue's Andy?" Phoebe asked.  
Prue looked at the area Phoebe was talking to. "What about Andy?"  
"He's with Piper."  
"In this room?"   
"Yes." Phoebe replied impatiently, turning back to Piper. "Piper, what's he saying? Are you going to be ok?"  
Piper bit her lip. "I can't answer that yet."  
"Why not?"  
"I don't know what's going to happen! I guess we'll just have to take this one step at a time."  
Phoebe let this all sink in. For the first time, she couldn't think of what to say.  
  
  
  
Author's note- Sorry the chapters have been so short. I promise I'll start making them longer.   
  
  
  



End file.
